General Motors Co. is recalling certain Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon compact pickup trucks from the 2010 to 2012 model years because their secondary hood-latch mechanisms may be missing.

The secondary latch is designed as a safety device to keep the hood closed if the main latch is not properly engaged. Without the secondary latch, a hood that is not fully closed and latched could open suddenly while the vehicle is being driven, possibly obstructing the driver’s view and increasing the risk of a crash.

Ford Motor Co. has been through a number of long goodbyes in recent years, from the Ford Crown Victoria and Lincoln Town Car to the Mercury Grand Marquis — make that the whole Mercury brand. Now another long-running model is at the end of the line.

Production of the Ford Ranger compact pickup truck finishes up later this week and operations end Dec. 19 at the St. Paul, Minn., assembly plant that has builds Rangers. The company said it is scrapping the Ranger in the U.S. because drivers here prefer full-size pickups that have more interior space and more hauling and towing capability.

General Motors Co. is recalling certain Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon mid-size pickup trucks from the 2012 model year to fix possible defects in their safety-belt warning systems.

In a document filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration the car maker said certain vehicles buit from Sept. 9 through Oct. 19 may have driver’s safety-belt buckle electrical connectors that do not fit together snugly. As a result the electrical connection may become intermittent and the system could fail to warn the driver that the belt isn’t properly fastened.

Chevrolet says it will build and sell its redesigned Colorado midsize pickup in the U.S, though they aren’t saying when. It won’t be anytime soon, because the car maker has already committed to turning out the old version of the Colorado here for the 2012 model year.

The decision to market the new model in the States is a big change for Chevy, which as recently as last week said it had no plans to sell the truck in the U.S. largely because the market for midsize pickups here is notoriously poor and getting worse. Toyota’s Tacoma seems to be the only small pickup truck that has a decent following among American buyers.

Chevrolet rolled out its range of redesigned Colorado mid-size pickup trucks in Thailand. The General Motors Co. division says it will offer 26 combinations of cab styles, power trains and suspensions when the trucks go on sale this month.

But don’t look for the new model in the U.S., which is not one of the 180 countries in which the company says it will sell the latest Colorado. Customers looking for a mid-size pickup truck here will have to settle for the long-in-the-tooth first-generation Colorado that has been on the road since late 2003.

General Motors Co. says it is recalling certain Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon mid-size pickup trucks from the 2011 model year to fix a potential problem that could cause their windshield wipers to stop working.

The car maker says the recall affects 4,674 vehicles built from Sept. 22 through Nov. 5, 2010. On some of the trucks the windshield wiper motor crank-arm nut may not be sufficiently tightened. As a result, the nut could loosen under some circumstances, such as when the driver operates the wipers on a dry windshield or when there is an accumulation of snow or ice on the windshield.